Quality control is important in the manufacture of components in an assembly process. Often, components are manufactured with precise dimensions and have tight critical tolerance requirements. Machines such as actuators can be used to inspect, measure and determine if one or more critical dimensions of the component are within tolerance. For example, the probe assembly of a moving coil actuator may be used to precisely measure a dimension of interest. The measurement is then used to determine if the dimension is within a tolerance window.
Linear actuators are mechanical devices which are used to perform repetitive actions requiring linear motion. For example, linear actuators can be used in an assembly plant for placing caps on bottles, for automatically stamping or labeling mail, for glass cutting, for placing chips on circuits, for testing various buttons or touch areas on electronic devices, for automation, and for a wide variety of other purposes as well.
When considering the operation of a machine that is to be used for the purpose of either assembling separate individual component parts into an end product, or moving a tool into contact with a work surface of the end product, the consequences of the manufacturing process on the end product needs to be addressed. For example, in some instances, a machine can be used for the manufacture of an end product that incorporates a probe assembly that is to be moved, for example, into contact with a work surface (or a target surface) on the end product. Because the machine operates to move a first body (the probe assembly) into contact with a second body (the target surface of the end product), forces are generated against both bodies by this action. It happens, however, that many end products incorporate very delicate and fragile components that can be easily damaged if the contact forces that are generated during assembly of the end product become too large. Consequently, in order to avoid damage to the end product, it is often desirable that precise pre-determined forces be generated against specified component parts of the end product during its assembly or manufacture.
Accordingly, a need exists for methods and apparatus for moving a probe assembly into soft contact with a work surface that selectively monitors specified movement parameters of the probe assembly to control the contact forces between the probe assembly and the target surface.